@levitating octahedron not Native Americans, the settlers heading west in their wagon trains used the tactic, incidentally the Conestoga wagon is not far removed in design from the wagons the Bohemians used for daily life. And they were introduced to America by the Moravians (which was once a part of Bohemia) who settled in Pennsylvania as the “Pennsylvania Dutch”. Many of whose descendants went west in search of more land bringing the wagenburg tactic with them to protect their families from the mounted warfare of the Cheyenne and Sioux. Hence where we get the term “circle the wagons” and also coincidentally, the idea of being a Bohemian and “marching to the tune of one’s own drum”, which is a direct reference to Zizka’s skin being used to make a drum to rouse the Hussites to battle.
This tactic is far older. Germanic tribes like the Helvetii and the Suebi use wagon-fortresses. Caesar refused to attack the Suebi that covered themself in a waggon-fortress and provoked them to come out. A wise man.
By changing the rules of combat, the knights now became the "untrained" units. They had no idea at the time of how to deal with the wagon forts, and the weapons being used. Brilliant. Its like me coming to play checkers, but my opponent sets up chess game. I am done.
Nah, it's like coming to play checkers, but your opponent pulls out the prototype strategy game he's been making himself and doesn't tell you the rules
@bing bong You are aware wagons were full of crossbowmen? Your idiotic strategy would end up with cavalry massacred at point blank range before they throw anything...
@I Play Games the guns could only shoot a single volley at a time and were very inaccurate. And horses are fast. Calvery was used against rifles up until the 1800's. I'd tell half of the calvery to throw clay pots full of oil at the wagons to make them more flammable, then the horses to throw torches and the archers to use arrows covered in oil-soaked cloth lit on fire. I'd let everything burn out then attack with the infantry before they recover
Fun Fact - the word Howitzer, started as Czech (Hussite) word Houfnice - the gun that was so inaccurate it was only effective at shooting to the crowds. Crowds are houfy in Czech, hence houfnice.
@Tomas Koptik Ta skupina charakteristicka pro Slovany (R1a?) klesa od Rusu smerem k nam, nicmene je vyznamna. Jinak hodne tech DNA jsou podobne i pro nejruznejsi, vzdalenejsi evropske narody. Na jeden muj dotaz mi expert odpovedel, ze neni mozno rici, do kolika procent jsem Cech. Takto pochybuji, ze je mozne urcit s jistotou, do kolika procent jsme Nemci.
@Jiri Tichy It was some 20yrs old research, some new data might be different, I am not an expert to say it was correct or not but definitely I have seen these numbers. Anyway I do believe that Slavic genes are represented in the Czech nation much less than we used to be told.
This gives me a deeper appreciation of the war wagon units in Warhammer Total War. Real history is often better than fiction, just less accessible. Thanks for a bit of remedy!
@Alexander Hay-Whitton i think that was more because the czech language didn't realy evolve much after the 15th century (if i recall correctly). it took multiple generations of dedicated czechs to help the language catch up to the dominant of the time.but i do agree that writers want to be read.sorry for the long comment, i'm just passionate about our history.
Hard? It's damned impossible! There's a reason why the best Czech writers have used German, French, or even English (Stoppard) rather than their own lingo: writers want to be read!
The "Fyrd" or local militia weren't good in the field, but were great for defending fortifications. What an innovation to take fortifications with you!
Is fyrd still a word for militia in east europe? because i only know it in context of anglo-saxon militia. One of their very last appearances in history was with Harald II., when they faught in the battle of stamford bridge and after that, made haste to hastings to fight Wilhelm the Conqueror.
Hussites weren't even a "fyrd". About half of them were poor people from cities. They were hard as nails after few battles, but in todays view most of them were homeless people...well at the start. While in army those mens found new way of live and call themeselves brothers.
Hungarian kings were quick to employ these hussite tactics, and even hiring fugitive hussites, like John Jiskra, who became a famous captain of the Black Army under King Matthias. The mobile, wagon riding, gun/crossbow wielding infantry was an excellent addition to the cavalry-heavy hungarian army. Kinda like mechanised infantry to modern tanks.
@Benedek Nagy stop spreading bullshit. the polish huszárs mad by hungarians and those times the hungarian huszárs was the same armored units. the armor and weapons of winged huszárs made in hungary.
@petr pinc Well, a polish winged hussar would be called a knight by 16th century hungarian standards, not a hussar, due to the armour, so i would not be surprised if this would be the case for slovak history books too. There is/was not much talk about the siege of Vienna in Hungary, probably because of the shame of the terrible brother conflict. Croats, Slovaks and Hungarians from the western part of the kingdom fought for the catholic Habsburgs, while the protestans from eastern Hungary helped the Ottomans.
@Benedek Nagy on the other hand when I was talking at some larger home party, my Slovak relatives (I am Czech), knew only about the Hungarian and were ''shocked'' that Poles were saving Vienna in 1648. They literally never heard of the Polish Winged Hussaria.
BTW, Andrzej Sapkowski (Witcher's author) wrote trilogy about Hussite Wars, including some epic battles and skirmishes. Genre is low fantasy, but supernatural stuff doesn't affect historical events that much. Great read overall, should be translated soon
Jan Zika is one of the people that I researched highly. He is right up there IMHO to many of the Genuses through out history. He took unskilled soldiers and turned them into a effective fighting force.
@thomasfplm The fact that Zizca never lost a battle came down to A LOT more than just the wagons. No single innovation can gain you such a record. So drawing lessons from such a mans success has to look at him wholistically as a military commander. A factor besides the wagon forts, for example, was Zizcas ability to recognise his mens strenths and weaknesses, and adoption of appropriate tactics. That quality is just as important today as it was back then, and there are countless examples of battles, and entire wars lost due to commanders lacking in it. But that wholistic look and analysis, in turn, has to be fascilitated by history taking an interest in men like him, beyond just their own countrymen.
@rockyblacksmith, in this case, one would focus on strategies that are more applicable to our courent situation, that's not really the case for those wagons. Things like making more fires than usual in a camp to make the enemy think you have more troops than you actually have (I think it was Gengis Khan who did that) is a more relevant lesson, since misleading the enemy is still relevant. (today there are inflatable fake tanks that are used for the same function and to attract enemy bombardment away from the true army.
@thomasfplm True as far as general historical education goes. But we are talking about a specific field of history here (namely military history), and the way it chooses to evaluate the past. The point of studying history is to learn from it, emulate the successes, and avoid repeating the failiures. This is especially so in the context of military history. And if you look at it from that angle, categorically prioritising your own countries history, or even prioritising the big conflicts on the global stage makes little sense. One should look for whatever lesson may be most useful, whereever or on whatever scale it is.
@rockyblacksmith, it's impossible to study everything in even a bit of depth, so most countries will study more or their own history and the countries that affected more strongly theirs.
I really like how you have managed to develop a style throughout your animations that makes this video for example really enjoyable to watch! Its also amazing how you integrate the animated elements into beautiful backgrounds!
Great video, the Hussite Wars have interested me all my life. At medieval markets and in the theater I portray a Hussite fighter and therefore deal a lot with the topic, although it is largely unknown. Here in the border region between Bavaria and the Czech Republic, the Hussites are still well known today, which can be traced back to numerous battles in this area. The best-known in my region is the battle of Hiltersried (21.09.1433) in which "Pfalzgraf Johann zu Neunburg" defeated a Hussite army of 2,000 men. The aftermath of that battle partly contributed to the Hussite movement falling apart. Through the battle he received the nickname "Hussitengeißel".
I´d phrase it a little different: moral, discipline and tactics trumping skill and equipment. The problem with many knights, but also professional soldiers was that they fought only for their personal glory and gains and not as a coherent army. Even when they did, it was often easy to break them up in individual units with their own goals.
Deepsilver needs to make a sequel to Kingdom Come Deliverance that takes place during the Hussite war. They touched on it a bit by capturing the general displeasure and unrest that preceded the conflict and in my opinion they did a great job at it.
geez, imagine something like Kingdom Come but in the era when gunpowder and new innovative military tactics was becoming common... that would be an interesting timeline to place an rpg in
I love the fact that these wagons were basically like medieval tanks, with vehicle commanders, infantry dismounts, and firearms/cannons. It really goes to show how modern warfare can trace its roots back to old days.
Eh not really. Modern tanks were developed for a different purpose and evolved pretty quickly into something not properly comparable to these wagons. Tanks were developed to act as armoured cavalry, a role in which they specialise in modern warfare. High mobility & high firepower, vulnerable to dug in enemies with specialist counter-equipment. The modern comparison to the war wagon would be an ATGM, not a tank.
As someone who was born in Tabor a city that was founded by Hussite Revolutionaries in 1420 (it is the 600 year anniversary this year) I vote for Hussite war as especially Jan Zizka's most amazing battles were in the last 4 years of his life. Often the Hussites were greatly outnumbered as in Sudomer or Vitkov Hill but there were some spectacular turnarounds when things looked bleak such as the siege of Kutna Hora - where the Hussites held the city but as the army lay outside the city Sigismunds royalist forces surrounded them and traitors inside the city killed many of the Hussites inside and closed the gates. Zizka was trapped but he ordered a direct artillery attack on the area of King Sigismunds tent position followed by a charge whereby the Hussites completely routed the Sigismunds forces. The battle of Malenkov was quite amazing as well. It should be noted that Zizka fought his most impressive battles after he was completely blind and he never lost one.
I've watched quite a few videos about how peasant armies fought, and while they usually mentioned the tools that got adjusted to serve as weapons, this is the first time I hear about the wagon fort. Up to this point I only knew these from old western movies.
Jan Zizka is a legend. Can you imagine killing 12000 enemy soldiers in one day battle? He was like Smaug beating down everything that opposed him. It was correctly said in this video that the faith was a HUGE factor in these battles. We were taught a song in elementary school that Hussites supposedly sang while marching to battle. It's all about god and fighting for truth, the same we see these days with Ukraine soldiers. "... Žižka broke through the enemy lines and retreated to Kolín, but having received reinforcements he attacked and defeated Sigismund's unsuspecting army at the village of Nebovidy between Kolín and Kutná Hora on January 6, 1422. Sigismund lost 12,000 men and only escaped himself by rapid flight. ..." Source: Wiki
@Hendrik Bence Yep. "Die Slag van Bloedrivier" (The Battle of Blood River) is probably the most famous example in Boere-Afrikaner culture, where they defended against massed Zulu infantry (impis). A common theme in our folk history about the event is how the Boere men defended the edges of the laer, while the women and kids stayed in the centre and reloaded muskets for them.
The South African boer farmers also successfully utilised ox wagons as a way of setting up a defensive position against the Zulu and Xhosa tribes : en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/laager
yeah, i think it's not a well know thing. that's why i wanted to do the video actually. the hussite wars, in nutshell, is basically the reformation and guns before it was cool.
Hussites sort of invented the mobile fortress 👍 Kudos to Jan Ziska for creative improvisation and using his resources effectively. The concept came to a "temporary" end with the development of powerful artillery, but came back in the 20th century in the form of tanks/armored vehicles.
Hussite wagons are often compared to tanks, and its interesting how many parallels there are to modern warfare and yet how completely different the concept was. Modern tanks were developed with an entirely offensive mindset. Their sole goal was to accomplish a breakthrough when machine guns and entrechments had made offensive operations at established frontlines extremely costly and difficult. In that sense war wagons are almost the complete opposite, designed to turn field battles into defensive ones. And yet the way war wagons were deployed straight from the march bears a striking resemblance to the modern combined arms approch of mechanised divisions. In the end tanks also become an important defensive tool while war wagons became increasingly offensive (even if the accounts of using them to surround enemies may be imaginations, as you mention). So they did approach each other in their practical handling. The 1970s to 80s present another moment where the fate of the two seperated. Just like war wagons, tanks were also believed to become increasingly obsolete in the face of ever-increasing firepower. But with composite armour and now increasingly sophisticated active protection systems, modern technology provided solutions that will keep tanks around for a good while longer. Another frequently suggested historical lineage for the tank Da Vinci's proposal of a wooden tank with cannons. It is a much closer match for the original idea, as it was also designed to break the enemy front line to be closely followed by infantry. However the concept was an engineering nightmare that had no chance of realisation. It demanded a ludicrous number of cannons and would have been far too heavy to be moved from the protected inside. It also would have had an insane ground pressure and would have gotten stuck practically everywhere until the development of tracked propulsion.
@Frozen Johny Yeah, Žižka is one of seven never defeated in battle generals in history. Its only sad, that military schools don´t teach about him more, because he also made one of the first field books in the world and first organized tactical use of firearms.
Its impresive feat to defeat five crusade invasion with agriculture tools. As a side note If I am not mistaket under Žižkas command Hussite never lose a single battle.
The idea of a mobile wagon where archers can rain down fire while protected, was done since 200BC in Ancient China. And yes they did it because their enemy was mostly cavalry.
Don't want to be overly negative but that's completely wrong, albeit in an interesting way. An APC is fundamentally a manoeuvre weapon carrying troops to act offensively, protected on the move. These are miniature fortifications, to quicker fight defensive battles.
There were 5 crusades against Hussites total, all defeated. In the last one the battle almost didnt happen as the invaders ran away even before seeing the Hussites. They only heard them singing while approaching the battle - it is a myth though, the most probable explanation is the Hussites arrived really quickly to the battlefield so the crusaders were not yet ready for the battle - they didn't even have their camp set properly. So they wanted to move it back which resulted in general retreat. In any case the will to fight was not really high after 4 previous defeats. Another thing was the Hussites were not only, but quite often lowborn and didn't respect the medieval code of honour on the battlefield - lets say if you were a knight, nobleman (anybody rich) you could expect being taken prisoner after the lost battle and sold for ransom. Well... not with the Hussites - they rather smashed your skull (if you were lucky) and didn't really care if you are a duke or a peasant - they treated everybody equally :) After the 5th crusade it was obvious that the military victory against the "heretic Hussites" is impossible. What followed were the peace talks that eventually did lead to an agreement, though only 1 out of 4 Hussite demands was met. The thing was Bohemia was rip apart during this time after decades of civil war so many - especialy those that were able to get some possessions or titles etc. accepted this way out. But another half - especially those more religious wanted to keep fighting. It eventually did lead to a big battle (1434 Lipany) where moderate Hussites and Catholics (former enemies) defeated the other radical Hussite wing. It was a battle where 2 formations with war wagons met - the moderate Hussites won due to a trap (feignted retreat) after a long standoff (no side dared to attack). Following their "good" traditon they mercilessly slaughtered almost all the radicals and all those who gave up were burned. Those that escaped (often used to be farmers / peasants but also craftsmen etc.) were fighting for such a long time in their life that they couldn't really return to original occupations - they often kept pursuing their new careers as really appreciated mercenaries abroad.
Wow, an amazing video. As a czech citizen I would only add that in the first battle Zizka used a trap. He seemingly left one of his flanks vulnerable to lure knights into the swamps. Or I was taught it that way in school.
I've read other sources which claim that a great deal of the Hussite wagon forts' effectiveness had to do with the deeply ingrained stupidity of many of their opponents. Since their mobility was limited, the wagon forts themselves could not be used to launch rapid attacks on the enemy so Hussite leaders relied on goading enemy knights and men at arms into attacking them. The hot blooded, well armed and well armored, and arrogant "professionals" couldn't resist taking the fight to the peasants whom they considered to be their inferiors so they could be counted on to make headlong charges into the killing range of the hand guns and artillery and thus leaving themselves vulnerable to counterattacks by Hussite infantry and calvary.
It's not stupid to force to attack on fort wagon when they are sitting on your vital supply route. You will be at a hard rock and a hard place. If you don't deal with it soon, you will definitely lose.
Ironically the end of Hussite wars was the battle of Lipany, where two Hussite armies faced each other (Radicals vs Moderates) with the same wagenburg strategy. The winning army applied the classical tactic of faked retreat - a bait which was swallowed. The Radicals opened their wagenburg in a pursuit of seemingly defeated foe and were destroyed as a result.
@Shorewall True. But my assumption is that the professional soldiers whom the Hussites routinely defeated should have had considerable experience in dealing with all kinds of defensive infantry formations as well as a wide variety of rudimentary and advanced field fortifications. Maybe I'm wrong and the Hussites' enemies were used to fighting opponents who used the same set piece tactics (mass shock action) as themselves instead of the flexible combined arms methods of the Hussites.
Well, you've got to fight sometime. Anyone using the wagon tactic just has to attack something that the defender cannot afford to lose, in order to force them to battle. And then the wagon users can attack from a defensive position.
Harry Mills to be fair, in ancient history most casualties were during slaughtering broken and retreating enemy, so being too cautious could backfire too
Such a simple, yet brilliant design! I had never heard of these, nor did the idea ever cross my mind, but it makes so much sense! This is a fantastic mobile defense for the pre-gunpowder age. Cavalry can't very well charge a cart, and infantry couldn't effectively climb or move the carts without first overwhelming the entrenched resistance. You get all the advantages of a fortified position, with a mere fraction of the time and effort to erect, AND the ability to actually be mobile. I'm surprised these aren't talked about more.
hey brother, well done. like... really well done. i think you'll definitely make it on youtube. I really enjoyed the visuals and animations. This is something I haven't seen combined like that ( in one video). Normally somebody either has very nice maps and animations or beautiful pictures and characters.. you manage to combine both in such a cool way. It's even cooler to see that you still manage to have proper references so I could actually go look up the stuff!
"Circle the wagons" is heard even today in American business jargon, referring back to an Old West defence against the Indians during the last half of the 19th century. Very good presentation!
On a less memetical note, this video is super cool! I've actually been working on a novel set in this time period for some time - it's such a fascinating time period, and not just in all the military revolutions brewing on the battlefield. There was so much change occurring in this twilight century of the Middle Ages - and better still, documentation is improving dramatically from just under a hundred years prior - there's so much more historical material to study. And the Hussite Wars in particular are a fascinating study into a different era of Christian thought - the Hussites took their faith so seriously (basic summary of Hus' views: communion requires both bread and wine; standard Catholic practice was to give the laity *only* bread) that they were willing to defend their convictions with their lives - because the alternative was eternal damnation. Another random interesting note - the Hussite Wars are one of the few contemporaneously documented instances in the Middle Ages (from Early to Late) of women taking part in military operations on a significant level as combatants and not merely commanders (e.g. Joan of Arc, Matilda of Tuscany) or camp followers who did the cooking and tending and cleaning. Francis Lutzow wrote a quality book on the Hussite Wars that tackles it from a more general historical / political perspective, in the context of the fierce religious spirit of the time. For those in this comment section that feel like reading that is. :P
I've heard about the term "hussite war wagon" before, but hadn't known much about such a thing... now, after watching this, I want them to be featured in the next medieval strategy game for they are absolutely awesome! (And going in a rather similar direction - although with different circumstances - as the awesome Roman army construction skills where they just set up forts, bridges and circum-/contravallations wherever they went.)
Best history of that era, most uderrated and deserves many movies and tv shows possible. Hussite wars and even Jan Žižkas history needs to be seen more !
Outstanding information still applicable with modifications today in certain circumstances. We as a people fail to learn from history but such tactics would've potentially saved many lives in urban warfare like Fallujah or Ramadi. I possibly would still have brothers breathing that are gone had methods of combat been modified and applied to those theaters. Good stuff guys, keep up the research and posting, you have my like and subscription.
i love it that you produce more videos lately, and that you keep posting your sources unlike other channels. and the quality is always very good. could you perhaps make a video about the good parts of heavy cavalry in the period? it feels like we see only what was effective in countering them, im starting to feel bad for those guys
Man, imagine those knights confident in their number and strenght thinking it's gonna be an easy task fighting the hussites, it must've been a high drop of their moral seeing the enemy is so flexible on the battlefield creating a wall of defence.
I love that your animation of 'fortifying' includes hitting a screw with a hammer I've actually seen people try that, works about as well as you'd expect
@criztu Hussites were 100% Czechs, maybe with few Germans - they were peasants with commanders from low nobility. After Hussite wars and protestant rebelion half of Czech high nobility were executed or expeled from kingdom and replaced by catholic German nobility.
@Absinthorix think of the house Bourbon. It's been founded by a member of the Capet house. The Capet house went extinct. but the clan was live and kicking. Under another name. It's a principle: Bohemia was under the rule of some clans, until some other clans from the HolyRomanEmpire moved in to take it. The former weren't pleased. Hussite wars is a struggle of nobles who didn't like HRE. it wasn't a "national struggle", chillax..
My ancestors, the Voortrekkers, fended off hundreds of attacks by various Bantu tribes with the "wagon-lager" strategy. Of course - the wagons were also their home on the Great Trek. They later forged special "fighting grates" to place between the openings between the wagon wheels so enemies couldn't enter. It has been recorded in diaries of the time that when an attack came, nearly every cast-iron pot was beaten into pieces and used as the shot for the old muskets to turn into very effective large-bore shotguns.
Even better than usual! And on a fascinating subject, ideal for a figurinist like me, I do like painting this kind of unit...Great video, once again!👍👍
During the earlier years of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, the Empire (which took heavy inspiration from Renaissance Landsnecht) employed War Wagons as a unit. Although there, the bed of the wagon was raised higher up, so it looked and functioned more like a mobile watchtower. And, probably due to points issues, it probably wasn't used in such numbers on the board to create a true wagon fort. At best, it could probably block spaces between terrain features. In any case, the kits were phased out, and the War Wagon was replaced, both on the tabletop and in-universe, by the Steam Tank. Which is exactly what it sounds like. It's a shame, really, as wagons would be neat to run on the tabletop. Especially if you're being more historical, or flavoring your army as a less well supplied underdog force (not unlike the Hussites). Well, at least One Page Rules has War Wagon stats in their Age of Fantasy game.
Excellent video again! I would add though that perhaps rather than the Hussites being the underdogs, I think their deployment of the crossbows and early firearms/artillery instead demonstrated that they were actually on the cutting edge of military technological advancement and it sounds like once they had developed this doctrine of mobile defensive works by way of their wagons they probably had the upper hand against their opponents rather than the other way around. It was a very clever strategy to employ and I think demonstrates that at least the folks developing the doctrine very much knew what they were doing and also how best to utilize the civilian/soldiers they had at their disposal. B/c the overall methodology sounds pretty sophisticated with their deployment of the various specialized units (engineers, cavalry and the breakdown of the assorted roles that the less experienced soldiers fullfilled) within their forces.
Thank you for this video. I never heard from the Hussites so it was quite interesting to know they even existed. Also their tactics were cool. When little I have watched many cowboy and indian movies where the cowboys made a wagon fort and always thought it was something invented around the time of the cowboys. But now I see it was much earlier invented.
Great video! Nice to see creativity beating heavy tech and resource-heavy warfare :) One question that made me wonder... If chariots and wagons were used a lot in ancient times like in the Bronze age, and by the "barbarians" in Roman Era. And were still so effective in early gun era. What made them obsolete or not that common in that time in between??
Very interesting; I certainly learned something there! Thanks for taking the time to produce such a well made and informative video! Liked and subbed! :)
I believe the Goths used a wagon fort to defeat the Romans at the Battle of Adrinople in the 370's AD. This is just one of many instances in history where wagons were chained together to add to the defense.
@Yusef Yandron so firstly, you have no idea what you are talking about. Secondly, religion was created by primitive peoples because they couldnt understand common natural phenomena like rain. Thirdly, Czechia is indeed thriving, with many people coming here to live.
11:12 Until 15 September 1916 when the British deployed a modernized version at the Battle of the Somme. The British Mark 1. BTW great video. Very interesting especially the part about the use of screening cavalry being used to distract the enemy while the wagons made a circle
I was interested that flails were a mjor part of the Hussite armoury. Mostly they seem to be treated as just a curiosity. I would love to hear more about how they were used.
These were long two handed agricultural flails. The design was long light stick and short heavy stick joined by short rope or chain. On the wagonfort they had the higher ground despite being infantry vs cavalery. They basically could bang the end of the handle on enemy shield and the head of the weapon had enough inertia to smack anything hiding behind the shield. Sometimes breaking the shield holding hand or causing concussion.
Very interesting! I wonder if this was an influence for the defense of wagon trains in North America. “Circle the wagons,” was always something said in our old films.
@Facepalm Full O' Napalm but the DE hussite wagons can stop half damage of piercing objects, protecting units behind them, making wagons a lot more useful than korean war wagons
I wonder how difficult it was to pull those wagons through offroad terrain? Also, did they have wagons with replacement part for the wagons (spare axles, wheels, etc.)?
Great video, when I've seen information on the hussite wagon forts I've always wondered about the specifics of how they were moved so effectively, I assume by mules and horses. But I wouldve thought that the amount of draft animals that would've needed protection inside the fort would have taken up too much space and been unwieldy in combat situations. Im especially curious about one of the last battles of the hussite wars that i am forgetting the name of right now when they were moving the wagons towards the enemy position under fire and threat of charge. Would the horses be able to accomplish this task especially over rough ground without getting the formation bogged down with fallen animals and stuck wagons? It seems impractical in combat circumstances unless there is enough time to prepare
Žižka was strategy genius, he always used the terrain to his great advantage, always prepared in advance. As for the final battle of these Wars, it was battle of Lipany. One part of hussites (extremists - "Táborité") fought against the other part (lower czech nobility - "Panská jednota"). Žižka was dead at that time and Táborité were led by Prokop Holý. Both sides were familiar with hussite tactics so Panská jednota played a trick on Prokop Holý to lure them from wagon fort. They succeeded and Prokop Holý with his men were crushed. That was the end of Hussite wars....Hussites just crushed other Hussites and that was it :) Well, yeah and 300 years of catholic terror afterwards...
Must've been a spectacle... watching a fortress form right infront of your eyes. The kind of tales i would sing of in taverns, if i was a medieval bard.
When mentioning field fortifications and bottlenecks used against knights, you've missed one of the best examples: the Bulgarian King Kaloyan defeating the crusaders at the Battle of Adrianople in 1205.
Nicely done video, I have enjoyed it. Only little thing, as a Czech person myself, I have to say. When you read the name of Žižka, you pronounce it as šiška, which means in English: "pine cones" But I get it's hard to pronounce Ž or Ř even R I guess for English speaker. After all, my English has to sound funny to English speaker anyway :D
Very informative. Hungarians also used Hussite style wagon forts against the Ottomans and they proved quite effective. The last instance I know of when they were used was in 1512 at Ravenna, but here they already proved to be insignificant. Plus people figured out you can just build earthworks.
If you’re interested in husites and Jan Zizka, I would recomend some books from Petr Čornej. He is one of the best historians who focuse on this era. And the books are in fact very enjoyable to read even when it is literature of fact.
you channel is exactly what I feel it missing with all this great history and military channels. Can you do a nice video on the balkanic mercenaries or stradiots in European warfare !
This is why warfare is so interesting to me. A bunch of farmers figured out how to beat knights with wood. Brilliant. Reminds me of poker...you can have great cards, but without strategy, you may lose. On the other side, you can have terrible cards, but still win with great strategy.
@Ousama de aru But they wielded it exactly the same way. When you're standing on top of the wagon, the knight's head is on the "ground level" for you, which means that the movements you need to use it effectively, are the exact same movements you've been doing since childhood. Also, the chain is not at all as long as in case of flail, it's there only so the spiky part can lie flat, not for it to trash around.
@Ondra S to add up; Peasants does not use a weapon that technically doesn't exists in their time period. Also, training them in a defensive warfare like spears, war scythes(not the fantasy scythes or the farming scythes), battle-axes, any other polearm, hand cannons, small cannons, and then the wagons. Its a lot easier to be train and wield far more practical weapons in a standard you want rather than using any farming equipment. Now unto polearms, the weight will depend on what attachment is added, but its still relatively light by any normal standard for most of the polearms because anything heavier than the material for its shaft will cause it to be unstable and break. And the chain will be extremely unpredictable no matter how you want to twist it, just think of it as a nunchuck where it takes time to actually wield one for battle. And if we say its a standard levy of peasants, it would be more practical to train them with a sword or a spear than to take years of training with a flail. Also just because they are able to wield it for agricultural reasons, the main issue is that its applications during war is practically an impossibility to wield it effectively.
@Ondra S he is correct though. A flail is literally a glorified metal Nunchuck with a ball end. Using it during war times is literally impossible against anything when you can see spears just able to just stab you while in formation, Cavalrymen thrusting their spears/lances in a safe distance, or arrows just far enough to make you their easy target. Also, flails for a battle or war technically never existed and even if it did, it was never used in battles where you'd be an easy picking for Archers, Spearmen/Levies, Cavalry, and anything else that exists. Even in a wagon formation, you'd probably injure your allies more than you would think. So, no. Its not that its simply impossible to use a flail, its literally impractical in any situation aside from duels that would most likely be set on the two parties on what is appropriate to use in a duel, and even then the only things that can say it is useful are in manuscripts for a flail that is mostly during the Renaissance period. While you can grind corn with it, you cannot really apply it to a battlefield where even a Quarterstaff could do better than a sword just because of its length and applications during battles.
@Skarsnik Warlord of Eight Peaks well unless you are used to it as a day to day farmer and you are 1,5 meter higher than your opponent, because you stand on a wheel wagon its basically like playing whack a mole
@Sapoman2211 Or much harder/stronger and hitting you in the softer/weaker part, you ever have a Dog run into your leg? It hurts even if they aren't heavier than you :)
Reminds me of wagon trains in the american west creating a circle camp to defend from native tribes. (The natives would just use incendiary arrows making their efficiency dubious)
The "peasant levies" response to "chivalry" once they figured out that chivalry intended for them to be fodder. "Cowards hiding behind wagons! Come out!" "Okay. You take off all that armor and we'll come out of our wagons"
@bluemobster 002 even a wheraboo like me would be ashamed by him. Hell the only thing I am obsessed for Germany was the Unsung Heroes that never supported Hitler(who only fought for their country) and Technology itself.
@Svetlana Kuznetkova if I understand, didn't the Serfs and Peasants can go on adventures on their own. For Serfs, their own mobility is limited to the land they are to stay, meanwhile Peasants are pretty free and can do lots of things after a few days of labor on their jobs.
The defensive works of Czechoslowakia in the 1930s were so formidable that Hitler had to devise a trick to nullify them. Cue the Munich Betrayal (agreement) of 1938, where both Britain and France refused to stand by their Czech ally and forced the latter to give up the Sudetenland, where incidentally most of the Czech defensive works were built. And of course anyone knows the Czech Hedgehog. At first a seemingly cute, completely stationary hedgehog that will rip open your landing craft or your tank when you try to move around one.
Heh, thank you from Czech Republic. I am proud on my ancestors for how stubborn they were. Sadly without good strong leader and clear goal we have national wide tendencies to constantly bark one on another and to keep arguing endlessly. I would love to see us to be united for common cause once again.
Well we know what the Hussite unique unit is once the AoE2 devs get around to them, infantry/monk civ with a wagon that fires musket balls and garrisons units!
I like the idea how this medieval war tactic eventually became a tactic in the wild west for the pioneers
And infantry fighting vehicle.
It was around long before the Hussites perfected it.
@levitating octahedron not Native Americans, the settlers heading west in their wagon trains used the tactic, incidentally the Conestoga wagon is not far removed in design from the wagons the Bohemians used for daily life. And they were introduced to America by the Moravians (which was once a part of Bohemia) who settled in Pennsylvania as the “Pennsylvania Dutch”. Many of whose descendants went west in search of more land bringing the wagenburg tactic with them to protect their families from the mounted warfare of the Cheyenne and Sioux. Hence where we get the term “circle the wagons” and also coincidentally, the idea of being a Bohemian and “marching to the tune of one’s own drum”, which is a direct reference to Zizka’s skin being used to make a drum to rouse the Hussites to battle.
This tactic is far older. Germanic tribes like the Helvetii and the Suebi use wagon-fortresses. Caesar refused to attack the Suebi that covered themself in a waggon-fortress and provoked them to come out. A wise man.
@Szalony Kucharz 🇺🇦✊🙃
Imagine being a famous knight anointed by the pope, the best rider in your kingdom, only to get vibe checked by a wooden box on wheels
most unfunny coment ive ever seen
You sir, made my day.
K gardai
Lala
Pp
By changing the rules of combat, the knights now became the "untrained" units. They had no idea at the time of how to deal with the wagon forts, and the weapons being used.
Brilliant. Its like me coming to play checkers, but my opponent sets up chess game. I am done.
@bing bong don't you think Jan thought those through? how do you think he remained unbeaten against the best roman militaries?
Nah, it's like coming to play checkers, but your opponent pulls out the prototype strategy game he's been making himself and doesn't tell you the rules
@bing bong You are aware wagons were full of crossbowmen? Your idiotic strategy would end up with cavalry massacred at point blank range before they throw anything...
@I Play Games the guns could only shoot a single volley at a time and were very inaccurate. And horses are fast. Calvery was used against rifles up until the 1800's.
I'd tell half of the calvery to throw clay pots full of oil at the wagons to make them more flammable, then the horses to throw torches and the archers to use arrows covered in oil-soaked cloth lit on fire.
I'd let everything burn out then attack with the infantry before they recover
Fun Fact - the word Howitzer, started as Czech (Hussite) word Houfnice - the gun that was so inaccurate it was only effective at shooting to the crowds. Crowds are houfy in Czech, hence houfnice.
@Sir Rather Splendid sclavus/sclavi - rome,greek cca 0AD?
@Jiri Tichy Naprostý souhlas :) Je to tak promíchané, že to reálně ani říct nejde....
@Tomas Koptik Ta skupina charakteristicka pro Slovany (R1a?) klesa od Rusu smerem k nam, nicmene je vyznamna. Jinak hodne tech DNA jsou podobne i pro nejruznejsi, vzdalenejsi evropske narody. Na jeden muj dotaz mi expert odpovedel, ze neni mozno rici, do kolika procent jsem Cech. Takto pochybuji, ze je mozne urcit s jistotou, do kolika procent jsme Nemci.
@Jiri Tichy It was some 20yrs old research, some new data might be different, I am not an expert to say it was correct or not but definitely I have seen these numbers. Anyway I do believe that Slavic genes are represented in the Czech nation much less than we used to be told.
@Tomas Koptik I am no DNA expert, however the number 70% Geman seems to be false. It should be easy to check on expert resources.
Great video about the tactical value of wagon forts :)
Kingdom Come 2 confirmes
Warhorse studios: “WRITE THAT DOWN, WRITE THAT DOWN!”
WHERE IS THE CROSSBOW WARHORSE MAN
KCD2 when?
I could say how to implemented years later they would use armored mobile infantry
This gives me a deeper appreciation of the war wagon units in Warhammer Total War. Real history is often better than fiction, just less accessible. Thanks for a bit of remedy!
Shame the Total War ones don't have polemen in them like their tabletop models had. They're too fragile and not the mobile bulwarks they should be.
Right? If only they weren't hot garbage! Still, it shows the original creators of Warhammer had a love of history!
As a Czech I am amazed and impressed with your pronunciation. Czech is a hard language and you nailed it!
@Alexander Hay-Whitton i think that was more because the czech language didn't realy evolve much after the 15th century (if i recall correctly). it took multiple generations of dedicated czechs to help the language catch up to the dominant of the time.but i do agree that writers want to be read.sorry for the long comment, i'm just passionate about our history.
Hard? It's damned impossible! There's a reason why the best Czech writers have used German, French, or even English (Stoppard) rather than their own lingo: writers want to be read!
Actually žižka is not that difficult to pronounce once you know how to transcribe it. Jean Valjean also has ž. But yes, this was a good pronunciation.
The "Fyrd" or local militia weren't good in the field, but were great for defending fortifications. What an innovation to take fortifications with you!
Is fyrd still a word for militia in east europe? because i only know it in context of anglo-saxon militia. One of their very last appearances in history was with Harald II., when they faught in the battle of stamford bridge and after that, made haste to hastings to fight Wilhelm the Conqueror.
Hussites weren't even a "fyrd". About half of them were poor people from cities. They were hard as nails after few battles, but in todays view most of them were homeless people...well at the start. While in army those mens found new way of live and call themeselves brothers.
Hungarian kings were quick to employ these hussite tactics, and even hiring fugitive hussites, like John Jiskra, who became a famous captain of the Black Army under King Matthias.
The mobile, wagon riding, gun/crossbow wielding infantry was an excellent addition to the cavalry-heavy hungarian army. Kinda like mechanised infantry to modern tanks.
@Benedek Nagy stop spreading bullshit. the polish huszárs mad by hungarians and those times the hungarian huszárs was the same armored units. the armor and weapons of winged huszárs made in hungary.
actualy the hungarian kingdom destroyed them... huszitas was effective against unexperienced western knigths but the hungarian army streamrolled them.
Jan Jiskra,
@petr pinc Well, a polish winged hussar would be called a knight by 16th century hungarian standards, not a hussar, due to the armour, so i would not be surprised if this would be the case for slovak history books too.
There is/was not much talk about the siege of Vienna in Hungary, probably because of the shame of the terrible brother conflict. Croats, Slovaks and Hungarians from the western part of the kingdom fought for the catholic Habsburgs, while the protestans from eastern Hungary helped the Ottomans.
@Benedek Nagy on the other hand when I was talking at some larger home party, my Slovak relatives (I am Czech), knew only about the Hungarian and were ''shocked'' that Poles were saving Vienna in 1648. They literally never heard of the Polish Winged Hussaria.
BTW, Andrzej Sapkowski (Witcher's author) wrote trilogy about Hussite Wars, including some epic battles and skirmishes. Genre is low fantasy, but supernatural stuff doesn't affect historical events that much. Great read overall, should be translated soon
What is the trilogy called?
@johneqwest my favorite RPG
i liket it better then the witcher. Much better written
That is really good book fantasy in real world. I love it.
Hussite Trilogy by Sapek is perfect material for epic HBO series. The next Game of Thrones, eight seasons of greatness
Jan Zika is one of the people that I researched highly. He is right up there IMHO to many of the Genuses through out history. He took unskilled soldiers and turned them into a effective fighting force.
Zizca was a genius. He was also blind in one eye and later the other. He never lost a battle.
@rockyblacksmith, that's a good point, I agree.
@thomasfplm The fact that Zizca never lost a battle came down to A LOT more than just the wagons. No single innovation can gain you such a record.
So drawing lessons from such a mans success has to look at him wholistically as a military commander.
A factor besides the wagon forts, for example, was Zizcas ability to recognise his mens strenths and weaknesses, and adoption of appropriate tactics.
That quality is just as important today as it was back then, and there are countless examples of battles, and entire wars lost due to commanders lacking in it.
But that wholistic look and analysis, in turn, has to be fascilitated by history taking an interest in men like him, beyond just their own countrymen.
@rockyblacksmith, in this case, one would focus on strategies that are more applicable to our courent situation, that's not really the case for those wagons.
Things like making more fires than usual in a camp to make the enemy think you have more troops than you actually have (I think it was Gengis Khan who did that) is a more relevant lesson, since misleading the enemy is still relevant.
(today there are inflatable fake tanks that are used for the same function and to attract enemy bombardment away from the true army.
@thomasfplm True as far as general historical education goes.
But we are talking about a specific field of history here (namely military history), and the way it chooses to evaluate the past.
The point of studying history is to learn from it, emulate the successes, and avoid repeating the failiures.
This is especially so in the context of military history.
And if you look at it from that angle, categorically prioritising your own countries history, or even prioritising the big conflicts on the global stage makes little sense.
One should look for whatever lesson may be most useful, whereever or on whatever scale it is.
@rockyblacksmith, it's impossible to study everything in even a bit of depth, so most countries will study more or their own history and the countries that affected more strongly theirs.
I really like how you have managed to develop a style throughout your animations that makes this video for example really enjoyable to watch! Its also amazing how you integrate the animated elements into beautiful backgrounds!
Great video, the Hussite Wars have interested me all my life. At medieval markets and in the theater I portray a Hussite fighter and therefore deal a lot with the topic, although it is largely unknown. Here in the border region between Bavaria and the Czech Republic, the Hussites are still well known today, which can be traced back to numerous battles in this area. The best-known in my region is the battle of Hiltersried (21.09.1433) in which "Pfalzgraf Johann zu Neunburg" defeated a Hussite army of 2,000 men. The aftermath of that battle partly contributed to the Hussite movement falling apart. Through the battle he received the nickname "Hussitengeißel".
Once again an example for motivation and mindset being more important than equipment
@edi Things haven't changed. Also it sounds a lot like the Samurai (that also got tramped by the Ashigaru peasants)
I´d phrase it a little different:
moral, discipline and tactics trumping skill and equipment.
The problem with many knights, but also professional soldiers was that they fought only for their personal glory and gains and not as a coherent army. Even when they did, it was often easy to break them up in individual units with their own goals.
Skills over gears
Good point
Deepsilver needs to make a sequel to Kingdom Come Deliverance that takes place during the Hussite war. They touched on it a bit by capturing the general displeasure and unrest that preceded the conflict and in my opinion they did a great job at it.
geez, imagine something like Kingdom Come but in the era when gunpowder and new innovative military tactics was becoming common...
that would be an interesting timeline to place an rpg in
Oh, they are deffinitely making something, and from some hints, that something might be KCD sequel.
I hope they complete the trilogy. In particular, I would love an open-world visit to Old Prague.
Chris Oly There were some bugs on release but it was still less buggy than Skyrim. And pretty much all significant bugs were fixed in later patches.
I love the fact that these wagons were basically like medieval tanks, with vehicle commanders, infantry dismounts, and firearms/cannons. It really goes to show how modern warfare can trace its roots back to old days.
Eh not really. Modern tanks were developed for a different purpose and evolved pretty quickly into something not properly comparable to these wagons. Tanks were developed to act as armoured cavalry, a role in which they specialise in modern warfare. High mobility & high firepower, vulnerable to dug in enemies with specialist counter-equipment. The modern comparison to the war wagon would be an ATGM, not a tank.
More like APCs to me. Like Pandur II, for example.
Thinking about a series on the Hussite Wars, but I'd also like to do more on Gustavus Adolphus. Any thoughts? (Would be a few months off though).
More Hussiten wars! Jan Žižka from Trocnov! And also Albrecht von Wallestein!
YES PLEASE HE IS SO UNDERRATED!!!!
@TECRON It's a nice Czech tradition
As someone who was born in Tabor a city that was founded by Hussite Revolutionaries in 1420 (it is the 600 year anniversary this year) I vote for Hussite war as especially Jan Zizka's most amazing battles were in the last 4 years of his life. Often the Hussites were greatly outnumbered as in Sudomer or Vitkov Hill but there were some spectacular turnarounds when things looked bleak such as the siege of Kutna Hora - where the Hussites held the city but as the army lay outside the city Sigismunds royalist forces surrounded them and traitors inside the city killed many of the Hussites inside and closed the gates. Zizka was trapped but he ordered a direct artillery attack on the area of King Sigismunds tent position followed by a charge whereby the Hussites completely routed the Sigismunds forces. The battle of Malenkov was quite amazing as well. It should be noted that Zizka fought his most impressive battles after he was completely blind and he never lost one.
@Brendan Burch novel. 1632. By Eric Flint. You'll love it.
I've watched quite a few videos about how peasant armies fought, and while they usually mentioned the tools that got adjusted to serve as weapons, this is the first time I hear about the wagon fort. Up to this point I only knew these from old western movies.
Jan Zizka is a legend. Can you imagine killing 12000 enemy soldiers in one day battle? He was like Smaug beating down everything that opposed him. It was correctly said in this video that the faith was a HUGE factor in these battles. We were taught a song in elementary school that Hussites supposedly sang while marching to battle. It's all about god and fighting for truth, the same we see these days with Ukraine soldiers.
"... Žižka broke through the enemy lines and retreated to Kolín, but having received reinforcements he attacked and defeated Sigismund's unsuspecting army at the village of Nebovidy between Kolín and Kutná Hora on January 6, 1422. Sigismund lost 12,000 men and only escaped himself by rapid flight. ..." Source: Wiki
@Hendrik Bence Yep. "Die Slag van Bloedrivier" (The Battle of Blood River) is probably the most famous example in Boere-Afrikaner culture, where they defended against massed Zulu infantry (impis). A common theme in our folk history about the event is how the Boere men defended the edges of the laer, while the women and kids stayed in the centre and reloaded muskets for them.
The South African boer farmers also successfully utilised ox wagons as a way of setting up a defensive position against the Zulu and Xhosa tribes : en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/laager
yeah, i think it's not a well know thing. that's why i wanted to do the video actually.
the hussite wars, in nutshell, is basically the reformation and guns before it was cool.
Hussites sort of invented the mobile fortress 👍
Kudos to Jan Ziska for creative improvisation and using his resources effectively.
The concept came to a "temporary" end with the development of powerful artillery, but came back in the 20th century in the form of tanks/armored vehicles.
Hussite wagons are often compared to tanks, and its interesting how many parallels there are to modern warfare and yet how completely different the concept was.
Modern tanks were developed with an entirely offensive mindset. Their sole goal was to accomplish a breakthrough when machine guns and entrechments had made offensive operations at established frontlines extremely costly and difficult. In that sense war wagons are almost the complete opposite, designed to turn field battles into defensive ones.
And yet the way war wagons were deployed straight from the march bears a striking resemblance to the modern combined arms approch of mechanised divisions. In the end tanks also become an important defensive tool while war wagons became increasingly offensive (even if the accounts of using them to surround enemies may be imaginations, as you mention). So they did approach each other in their practical handling.
The 1970s to 80s present another moment where the fate of the two seperated. Just like war wagons, tanks were also believed to become increasingly obsolete in the face of ever-increasing firepower. But with composite armour and now increasingly sophisticated active protection systems, modern technology provided solutions that will keep tanks around for a good while longer.
Another frequently suggested historical lineage for the tank Da Vinci's proposal of a wooden tank with cannons. It is a much closer match for the original idea, as it was also designed to break the enemy front line to be closely followed by infantry. However the concept was an engineering nightmare that had no chance of realisation. It demanded a ludicrous number of cannons and would have been far too heavy to be moved from the protected inside. It also would have had an insane ground pressure and would have gotten stuck practically everywhere until the development of tracked propulsion.
One of Prague districts is named Žižkov after this brave man :) We also have a beautiful statue of him on his warhorse. Proud times in our history !
This was a completely unknown tactic to me of medieval warfare. Great job and really informative with details!
@Frozen Johny Yeah, Žižka is one of seven never defeated in battle generals in history. Its only sad, that military schools don´t teach about him more, because he also made one of the first field books in the world and first organized tactical use of firearms.
Its impresive feat to defeat five crusade invasion with agriculture tools.
As a side note If I am not mistaket under Žižkas command Hussite never lose a single battle.
The Hussites invented the first APC
The idea of a mobile wagon where archers can rain down fire while protected, was done since 200BC in Ancient China. And yes they did it because their enemy was mostly cavalry.
and tanks....
Cool proto mechanized formations. Yeah there's nothing really mechanical but bringing the fortress to the enemy is a smart idea.
Don't want to be overly negative but that's completely wrong, albeit in an interesting way. An APC is fundamentally a manoeuvre weapon carrying troops to act offensively, protected on the move. These are miniature fortifications, to quicker fight defensive battles.
@Hubert That's sick
That was really interesting. I had never heard of such a tactician... brillant tactics for the age.
There were 5 crusades against Hussites total, all defeated. In the last one the battle almost didnt happen as the invaders ran away even before seeing the Hussites. They only heard them singing while approaching the battle - it is a myth though, the most probable explanation is the Hussites arrived really quickly to the battlefield so the crusaders were not yet ready for the battle - they didn't even have their camp set properly. So they wanted to move it back which resulted in general retreat. In any case the will to fight was not really high after 4 previous defeats. Another thing was the Hussites were not only, but quite often lowborn and didn't respect the medieval code of honour on the battlefield - lets say if you were a knight, nobleman (anybody rich) you could expect being taken prisoner after the lost battle and sold for ransom. Well... not with the Hussites - they rather smashed your skull (if you were lucky) and didn't really care if you are a duke or a peasant - they treated everybody equally :) After the 5th crusade it was obvious that the military victory against the "heretic Hussites" is impossible. What followed were the peace talks that eventually did lead to an agreement, though only 1 out of 4 Hussite demands was met. The thing was Bohemia was rip apart during this time after decades of civil war so many - especialy those that were able to get some possessions or titles etc. accepted this way out. But another half - especially those more religious wanted to keep fighting. It eventually did lead to a big battle (1434 Lipany) where moderate Hussites and Catholics (former enemies) defeated the other radical Hussite wing. It was a battle where 2 formations with war wagons met - the moderate Hussites won due to a trap (feignted retreat) after a long standoff (no side dared to attack). Following their "good" traditon they mercilessly slaughtered almost all the radicals and all those who gave up were burned. Those that escaped (often used to be farmers / peasants but also craftsmen etc.) were fighting for such a long time in their life that they couldn't really return to original occupations - they often kept pursuing their new careers as really appreciated mercenaries abroad.
Zizka was never defeated in the battle and even west point teaching his tactics till now
Wow, an amazing video. As a czech citizen I would only add that in the first battle Zizka used a trap. He seemingly left one of his flanks vulnerable to lure knights into the swamps. Or I was taught it that way in school.
thats what happened in AOE 2 in the Jan Ziska campaign, so i would guess so
I've read other sources which claim that a great deal of the Hussite wagon forts' effectiveness had to do with the deeply ingrained stupidity of many of their opponents. Since their mobility was limited, the wagon forts themselves could not be used to launch rapid attacks on the enemy so Hussite leaders relied on goading enemy knights and men at arms into attacking them. The hot blooded, well armed and well armored, and arrogant "professionals" couldn't resist taking the fight to the peasants whom they considered to be their inferiors so they could be counted on to make headlong charges into the killing range of the hand guns and artillery and thus leaving themselves vulnerable to counterattacks by Hussite infantry and calvary.
It's not stupid to force to attack on fort wagon when they are sitting on your vital supply route. You will be at a hard rock and a hard place. If you don't deal with it soon, you will definitely lose.
Ironically the end of Hussite wars was the battle of Lipany, where two Hussite armies faced each other (Radicals vs Moderates) with the same wagenburg strategy. The winning army applied the classical tactic of faked retreat - a bait which was swallowed. The Radicals opened their wagenburg in a pursuit of seemingly defeated foe and were destroyed as a result.
@Shorewall True. But my assumption is that the professional soldiers whom the Hussites routinely defeated should have had considerable experience in dealing with all kinds of defensive infantry formations as well as a wide variety of rudimentary and advanced field fortifications. Maybe I'm wrong and the Hussites' enemies were used to fighting opponents who used the same set piece tactics (mass shock action) as themselves instead of the flexible combined arms methods of the Hussites.
Well, you've got to fight sometime. Anyone using the wagon tactic just has to attack something that the defender cannot afford to lose, in order to force them to battle. And then the wagon users can attack from a defensive position.
Best offense is a good defense, eh? At least until the cannons got bigger.
Yes, but when you are the one with both the defense and the cannons...
Cannons got bigger i.e. better offense
Harry Mills to be fair, in ancient history most casualties were during slaughtering broken and retreating enemy, so being too cautious could backfire too
DAMN YOU CROMWELL!
Wouldn't it be more like canons getting smaller? Bombards were used plenty before and those things were stupid huge.
Such a simple, yet brilliant design! I had never heard of these, nor did the idea ever cross my mind, but it makes so much sense! This is a fantastic mobile defense for the pre-gunpowder age. Cavalry can't very well charge a cart, and infantry couldn't effectively climb or move the carts without first overwhelming the entrenched resistance. You get all the advantages of a fortified position, with a mere fraction of the time and effort to erect, AND the ability to actually be mobile. I'm surprised these aren't talked about more.
hey brother, well done. like... really well done. i think you'll definitely make it on youtube.
I really enjoyed the visuals and animations. This is something I haven't seen combined like that ( in one video). Normally somebody either has very nice maps and animations or beautiful pictures and characters.. you manage to combine both in such a cool way. It's even cooler to see that you still manage to have proper references so I could actually go look up the stuff!
"Circle the wagons" is heard even today in American business jargon, referring back to an Old West defence against the Indians during the last half of the 19th century. Very good presentation!
On a less memetical note, this video is super cool! I've actually been working on a novel set in this time period for some time - it's such a fascinating time period, and not just in all the military revolutions brewing on the battlefield. There was so much change occurring in this twilight century of the Middle Ages - and better still, documentation is improving dramatically from just under a hundred years prior - there's so much more historical material to study. And the Hussite Wars in particular are a fascinating study into a different era of Christian thought - the Hussites took their faith so seriously (basic summary of Hus' views: communion requires both bread and wine; standard Catholic practice was to give the laity *only* bread) that they were willing to defend their convictions with their lives - because the alternative was eternal damnation.
Another random interesting note - the Hussite Wars are one of the few contemporaneously documented instances in the Middle Ages (from Early to Late) of women taking part in military operations on a significant level as combatants and not merely commanders (e.g. Joan of Arc, Matilda of Tuscany) or camp followers who did the cooking and tending and cleaning. Francis Lutzow wrote a quality book on the Hussite Wars that tackles it from a more general historical / political perspective, in the context of the fierce religious spirit of the time.
For those in this comment section that feel like reading that is. :P
I've heard about the term "hussite war wagon" before, but hadn't known much about such a thing... now, after watching this, I want them to be featured in the next medieval strategy game for they are absolutely awesome!
(And going in a rather similar direction - although with different circumstances - as the awesome Roman army construction skills where they just set up forts, bridges and circum-/contravallations wherever they went.)
@exabyte interesting... thx
As far as I know, they will be part of an upcoming dlc for aoe2
Best history of that era, most uderrated and deserves many movies and tv shows possible. Hussite wars and even Jan Žižkas history needs to be seen more !
Outstanding information still applicable with modifications today in certain circumstances. We as a people fail to learn from history but such tactics would've potentially saved many lives in urban warfare like Fallujah or Ramadi. I possibly would still have brothers breathing that are gone had methods of combat been modified and applied to those theaters. Good stuff guys, keep up the research and posting, you have my like and subscription.
i love it that you produce more videos lately, and that you keep posting your sources unlike other channels. and the quality is always very good. could you perhaps make a video about the good parts of heavy cavalry in the period? it feels like we see only what was effective in countering them, im starting to feel bad for those guys
Thank you for the time and effort put into these videos. Great warfare content is always needed
thanks!
Man, imagine those knights confident in their number and strenght thinking it's gonna be an easy task fighting the hussites, it must've been a high drop of their moral seeing the enemy is so flexible on the battlefield creating a wall of defence.
I love that your animation of 'fortifying' includes hitting a screw with a hammer
I've actually seen people try that, works about as well as you'd expect
When the wagons speak Czech
@criztu Hussites were 100% Czechs, maybe with few Germans - they were peasants with commanders from low nobility. After Hussite wars and protestant rebelion half of Czech high nobility were executed or expeled from kingdom and replaced by catholic German nobility.
@criztu The house Premyslid havent existed for about 200 years or so at that point in history.
@criztu she is from Hannover, Germany
...you run for the hills.
@Absinthorix think of the house Bourbon. It's been founded by a member of the Capet house. The Capet house went extinct. but the clan was live and kicking. Under another name.
It's a principle: Bohemia was under the rule of some clans, until some other clans from the HolyRomanEmpire moved in to take it. The former weren't pleased.
Hussite wars is a struggle of nobles who didn't like HRE. it wasn't a "national struggle", chillax..
Hussite characteristics in warfare - flexible, adaptable, sufficiently skilled in quality but also practical and affordable - just like CZs today.
Man I freaking love your videos, the animated illustrations, interesting commentary, and accurate history
when you are talking about defensive warfare being better than offensive and tactics to bring down knights...i am all in :P [winks]
@Constantine Joseph that's a different penetration, that one pops cherries
Yeah F nights
My ancestors, the Voortrekkers, fended off hundreds of attacks by various Bantu tribes with the "wagon-lager" strategy. Of course - the wagons were also their home on the Great Trek. They later forged special "fighting grates" to place between the openings between the wagon wheels so enemies couldn't enter. It has been recorded in diaries of the time that when an attack came, nearly every cast-iron pot was beaten into pieces and used as the shot for the old muskets to turn into very effective large-bore shotguns.
Even better than usual! And on a fascinating subject, ideal for a figurinist like me, I do like painting this kind of unit...Great video, once again!👍👍
hey thank you! cool to see you stick around 👍
During the earlier years of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, the Empire (which took heavy inspiration from Renaissance Landsnecht) employed War Wagons as a unit. Although there, the bed of the wagon was raised higher up, so it looked and functioned more like a mobile watchtower. And, probably due to points issues, it probably wasn't used in such numbers on the board to create a true wagon fort. At best, it could probably block spaces between terrain features.
In any case, the kits were phased out, and the War Wagon was replaced, both on the tabletop and in-universe, by the Steam Tank. Which is exactly what it sounds like.
It's a shame, really, as wagons would be neat to run on the tabletop. Especially if you're being more historical, or flavoring your army as a less well supplied underdog force (not unlike the Hussites). Well, at least One Page Rules has War Wagon stats in their Age of Fantasy game.
Excellent video again!
I would add though that perhaps rather than the Hussites being the underdogs, I think their deployment of the crossbows and early firearms/artillery instead demonstrated that they were actually on the cutting edge of military technological advancement and it sounds like once they had developed this doctrine of mobile defensive works by way of their wagons they probably had the upper hand against their opponents rather than the other way around. It was a very clever strategy to employ and I think demonstrates that at least the folks developing the doctrine very much knew what they were doing and also how best to utilize the civilian/soldiers they had at their disposal. B/c the overall methodology sounds pretty sophisticated with their deployment of the various specialized units (engineers, cavalry and the breakdown of the assorted roles that the less experienced soldiers fullfilled) within their forces.
Thank you for this video. I never heard from the Hussites so it was quite interesting to know they even existed. Also their tactics were cool. When little I have watched many cowboy and indian movies where the cowboys made a wagon fort and always thought it was something invented around the time of the cowboys. But now I see it was much earlier invented.
"The best offence is a good defence."
- Rogal Dorn
See also any Imperial Guard list that augments troops with troop transports. You can't take objectives if there's a huge Chimera blocking the way.
“I will construct the greatest treehouse ever built, father”
@Epifairos Best voice actor. Followed by star child and Vect.
Damn, you're right! They should have made him with a Czech accent! :D Although I still absolutely love the voice actor.
A fellow man of culture.
"Action should never be determined by the enemy and defensive warfare was superior." A fine line to walk!
Great video! Nice to see creativity beating heavy tech and resource-heavy warfare :)
One question that made me wonder... If chariots and wagons were used a lot in ancient times like in the Bronze age, and by the "barbarians" in Roman Era. And were still so effective in early gun era. What made them obsolete or not that common in that time in between??
Very interesting; I certainly learned something there! Thanks for taking the time to produce such a well made and informative video! Liked and subbed! :)
I believe the Goths used a wagon fort to defeat the Romans at the Battle of Adrinople in the 370's AD. This is just one of many instances in history where wagons were chained together to add to the defense.
I must say how much I enjoyed and learned from this video. It made me think about modern tank tactics and strategy. THANKS 😊
Makes you feel kinda sad that they in the end lost despite being so much more motivated.
@Yusef Yandron 😂😂😂... blázni, vodníci a podvodníci 😄
@Yusef Yandron so firstly, you have no idea what you are talking about. Secondly, religion was created by primitive peoples because they couldnt understand common natural phenomena like rain. Thirdly, Czechia is indeed thriving, with many people coming here to live.
@Fabiano Alexandre no what happens in the past has repercussions in the future like ripples in a pond
I love seeing how much the Warhammer fantasy Empire was inspired by this era (eg war wagons and hand gunners)
Thank you for this, they've just implemented Hussite Wagon-Armies in "Field of Glory II Medieval" and I was sure how to employ them.
11:12 Until 15 September 1916 when the British deployed a modernized version at the Battle of the Somme. The British Mark 1. BTW great video. Very interesting especially the part about the use of screening cavalry being used to distract the enemy while the wagons made a circle
I was interested that flails were a mjor part of the Hussite armoury. Mostly they seem to be treated as just a curiosity. I would love to hear more about how they were used.
These were long two handed agricultural flails. The design was long light stick and short heavy stick joined by short rope or chain.
On the wagonfort they had the higher ground despite being infantry vs cavalery. They basically could bang the end of the handle on enemy shield and the head of the weapon had enough inertia to smack anything hiding behind the shield. Sometimes breaking the shield holding hand or causing concussion.
Very interesting! I wonder if this was an influence for the defense of wagon trains in North America. “Circle the wagons,” was always something said in our old films.
man if you look at USA, its basically Europe 2.0
The unit is now available in the last expansion of Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition!
@Facepalm Full O' Napalm but the DE hussite wagons can stop half damage of piercing objects, protecting units behind them, making wagons a lot more useful than korean war wagons
It was already available since the Conquerors expansion with the Koreans, though you couldn't dock units inside it
I wonder how difficult it was to pull those wagons through offroad terrain? Also, did they have wagons with replacement part for the wagons (spare axles, wheels, etc.)?
Amazing research and video! Additional compliments for always using the appropriate military vocabulary!
Great video, when I've seen information on the hussite wagon forts I've always wondered about the specifics of how they were moved so effectively, I assume by mules and horses. But I wouldve thought that the amount of draft animals that would've needed protection inside the fort would have taken up too much space and been unwieldy in combat situations. Im especially curious about one of the last battles of the hussite wars that i am forgetting the name of right now when they were moving the wagons towards the enemy position under fire and threat of charge. Would the horses be able to accomplish this task especially over rough ground without getting the formation bogged down with fallen animals and stuck wagons? It seems impractical in combat circumstances unless there is enough time to prepare
Žižka was strategy genius, he always used the terrain to his great advantage, always prepared in advance. As for the final battle of these Wars, it was battle of Lipany. One part of hussites (extremists - "Táborité") fought against the other part (lower czech nobility - "Panská jednota"). Žižka was dead at that time and Táborité were led by Prokop Holý. Both sides were familiar with hussite tactics so Panská jednota played a trick on Prokop Holý to lure them from wagon fort. They succeeded and Prokop Holý with his men were crushed. That was the end of Hussite wars....Hussites just crushed other Hussites and that was it :) Well, yeah and 300 years of catholic terror afterwards...
Must've been a spectacle... watching a fortress form right infront of your eyes. The kind of tales i would sing of in taverns, if i was a medieval bard.
When mentioning field fortifications and bottlenecks used against knights, you've missed one of the best examples: the Bulgarian King Kaloyan defeating the crusaders at the Battle of Adrianople in 1205.
Still in use today in cimbined arms warfare. The old west wagon trains did the same when they pioneered the western part of America.
Nicely done video, I have enjoyed it. Only little thing, as a Czech person myself, I have to say. When you read the name of Žižka, you pronounce it as šiška, which means in English: "pine cones" But I get it's hard to pronounce Ž or Ř even R I guess for English speaker. After all, my English has to sound funny to English speaker anyway :D
Yeah, I also wondered what 'szyszka' he's talking about.
Thanks for more content about the early modern period. I really like the era and not a lot of videos cover it. Please make more.
Very informative. Hungarians also used Hussite style wagon forts against the Ottomans and they proved quite effective. The last instance I know of when they were used was in 1512 at Ravenna, but here they already proved to be insignificant. Plus people figured out you can just build earthworks.
If you’re interested in husites and Jan Zizka, I would recomend some books from Petr Čornej. He is one of the best historians who focuse on this era. And the books are in fact very enjoyable to read even when it is literature of fact.
I would love to watch a movie based on the animation used to explain how they were implemented
"defensive warfare was superior to offensive warfare"
*Rogal Dorn approves*
Excited to see this brought to life in the upcoming Medieval (yes,thats what they called it) movie about Jan Zizka
Zizka was truly a military genius.
I think it would also be interesting if you cover the pavese crossbowman and thier effects on the battlefield
you channel is exactly what I feel it missing with all this great history and military channels. Can you do a nice video on the balkanic mercenaries or stradiots in European warfare !
Remarkable tactics. Jan was a genius.
These videos are always so cool and well made, well done my man
This is why warfare is so interesting to me. A bunch of farmers figured out how to beat knights with wood. Brilliant.
Reminds me of poker...you can have great cards, but without strategy, you may lose. On the other side, you can have terrible cards, but still win with great strategy.
Learnt two new things today.Hussites and war wagons.Thank you.
Deine Animationen sind echt wunderschön und die Pferde bei 0:45 haben mir einfach den Tag gerettet :D
This is a badass tactic. I really like it. Very smart for that time period.
Wow! This channel is fantastic! I salute you for your work. Also, subscribed. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
Imagine a thrashing flail be a effective weapon, long reach and leverage, deal heavy blows, around shields and swords
@Ousama de aru Glorified nun-chuck? Have you ever even held that thing?
@Ousama de aru But they wielded it exactly the same way. When you're standing on top of the wagon, the knight's head is on the "ground level" for you, which means that the movements you need to use it effectively, are the exact same movements you've been doing since childhood. Also, the chain is not at all as long as in case of flail, it's there only so the spiky part can lie flat, not for it to trash around.
@Ondra S
to add up;
Peasants does not use a weapon that technically doesn't exists in their time period. Also, training them in a defensive warfare like spears, war scythes(not the fantasy scythes or the farming scythes), battle-axes, any other polearm, hand cannons, small cannons, and then the wagons. Its a lot easier to be train and wield far more practical weapons in a standard you want rather than using any farming equipment.
Now unto polearms, the weight will depend on what attachment is added, but its still relatively light by any normal standard for most of the polearms because anything heavier than the material for its shaft will cause it to be unstable and break.
And the chain will be extremely unpredictable no matter how you want to twist it, just think of it as a nunchuck where it takes time to actually wield one for battle. And if we say its a standard levy of peasants, it would be more practical to train them with a sword or a spear than to take years of training with a flail.
Also just because they are able to wield it for agricultural reasons, the main issue is that its applications during war is practically an impossibility to wield it effectively.
@Ondra S he is correct though. A flail is literally a glorified metal Nunchuck with a ball end. Using it during war times is literally impossible against anything when you can see spears just able to just stab you while in formation, Cavalrymen thrusting their spears/lances in a safe distance, or arrows just far enough to make you their easy target.
Also, flails for a battle or war technically never existed and even if it did, it was never used in battles where you'd be an easy picking for Archers, Spearmen/Levies, Cavalry, and anything else that exists. Even in a wagon formation, you'd probably injure your allies more than you would think.
So, no. Its not that its simply impossible to use a flail, its literally impractical in any situation aside from duels that would most likely be set on the two parties on what is appropriate to use in a duel, and even then the only things that can say it is useful are in manuscripts for a flail that is mostly during the Renaissance period.
While you can grind corn with it, you cannot really apply it to a battlefield where even a Quarterstaff could do better than a sword just because of its length and applications during battles.
@Skarsnik Warlord of Eight Peaks well unless you are used to it as a day to day farmer and you are 1,5 meter higher than your opponent, because you stand on a wheel wagon
its basically like playing whack a mole
LOL the horse running animations is the most hilarious thing I love it. These animations are actually a really nice touch 👌 👍
Could this arguably be the first use of armored personnel carriers in warfare?
That was really entertaining as well as educating, thanks for another great vid!
Love the fact you have source to every single quote, really good job on this video.
Three best tools of any general. Good leaders, simple wagons and trusting men.
This feels like a bug exploit that broke the game meta and eventually got patched so it couldn't be done again.
@Sapoman2211 Or much harder/stronger and hitting you in the softer/weaker part, you ever have a Dog run into your leg? It hurts even if they aren't heavier than you :)
@Amadeus ramming speed only works when you're heavier
coming soon from spiffing brit;
Late medieval warfare is EXTREMELY BALANCED, BREAKING THE GAME WITH WAGONS
Cannons and probably torches might work but a heavy horse charge generally works only against lighter units.
I woudln't say bug exploit but a counter meta since after hussites these strats became new meta.
Very unique and cool animation style, And very informative. You have my subscription sir.
Very much appreciated!
Reminds me of wagon trains in the american west creating a circle camp to defend from native tribes. (The natives would just use incendiary arrows making their efficiency dubious)
The "peasant levies" response to "chivalry" once they figured out that chivalry intended for them to be fodder.
"Cowards hiding behind wagons! Come out!"
"Okay. You take off all that armor and we'll come out of our wagons"
How is the second comment in this chain talking about marxism wtf happened here
"Coward peasants! Come out and fight in the open field!"
"My lord brings his castle with him! Come and climb the walls!"
@bluemobster 002 even a wheraboo like me would be ashamed by him. Hell the only thing I am obsessed for Germany was the Unsung Heroes that never supported Hitler(who only fought for their country) and Technology itself.
@Svetlana Kuznetkova if I understand, didn't the Serfs and Peasants can go on adventures on their own. For Serfs, their own mobility is limited to the land they are to stay, meanwhile Peasants are pretty free and can do lots of things after a few days of labor on their jobs.
That’s an interesting use of wagon forts. It reminds me of the wagon trains & forts made famous in American westerns.
To the wagon boiiiiiiss. The knights are nigh!!!!
It was a bad idea throughout the middle ages to mess with Bohemians...
Austria and Brandeburg; well that would be a suggestion.
@Prokletý Básník no doubt
The defensive works of Czechoslowakia in the 1930s were so formidable that Hitler had to devise a trick to nullify them.
Cue the Munich Betrayal (agreement) of 1938, where both Britain and France refused to stand by their Czech ally and forced the latter to give up the Sudetenland, where incidentally most of the Czech defensive works were built.
And of course anyone knows the Czech Hedgehog.
At first a seemingly cute, completely stationary hedgehog that will rip open your landing craft or your tank when you try to move around one.
Heh, thank you from Czech Republic. I am proud on my ancestors for how stubborn they were. Sadly without good strong leader and clear goal we have national wide tendencies to constantly bark one on another and to keep arguing endlessly. I would love to see us to be united for common cause once again.
They used pretty advanced tactics, it's like trench line that was used on WW1 and 2
Well we know what the Hussite unique unit is once the AoE2 devs get around to them, infantry/monk civ with a wagon that fires musket balls and garrisons units!
When you’re a train travelling German commander from The 40s and decide two introduce mechanized warfare half a millennium early